Hyrule Secondary: Vengeful Courage
by Cradger
Summary: An average day at the secondary school in Castleton is about to be turned upside down. The infamous serial killer, Ganondorf is known for his mad mutterings about a little known and long-forgotten legend: The Triforce. A weight of destiny which school boy Link doesn't understand must be fulfilled, no matter what. With his friends by his side, this time, this Link won't be alone.
1. Chapter 1 - A Rainy Morning

Students ran into the school grounds, their hoods of their jackets up and in some cases their bags held over their heads to shield them from the down pour.  
The bell went and the teenagers flocked into the different buildings, laughing about their hair getting wet and making their way to their form rooms.  
Almost everyone was inside now, the last few stragglers sprinting to get indoors.  
Soon, the small paved streets between the buildings of the secondary school were deserted; the only sound the heavy rain drops colliding with the ground.  
The sound of bike wheels going round then a brake being slammed on joined the chorus of the typical school morning. An orange bike with a white seat and handles slipped neatly into one of the bike racks against the wall of the maths block. A boy jumped off the bike, scooping his brown shoulder bag back over his shoulders and fastening a chain lock around the front wheel and rack. He patted the saddle and set off at a run, holding his long green hood of the hoodie under his blazer over his head so that it wouldn't blow off.  
His brown shoes and the bottom of his black school trousers splashed through the puddles as he sprinted to the big building in the north of the school grounds. The boy finally made it to the sandy coloured, long and linear building and slammed into the side door, pulling it roughly open and setting off again down the corridor beyond. He turned off to the right and pushed against the door of his form room. The heavy door creaked open and the form inside fell silent as the student emerged shyly into the room.  
"Uh…" He cleared his throat and his form tutor looked round at him, "Sorry I'm late, Mr. Deku."  
The semi-old man with frizzy brown hair and a moustache shook his head, "That is the third time this week and it is Wednesday."  
"I'm sorry, sir." The boy replied after giving a burly boy with a red pompadour a glare when he started to point at him and snigger, "I-I guess I just slept in."  
"Hmph." Mr. Deku bowed his head slightly, "One more time and I am afraid that it will have to be a detention."  
"Yes, sir." He looked down at his feet and walked over to the tables to find a spare seat. The only one was next to his best friend, Vio.  
"Hey." Vio said, not looking up from the book he was reading, pushing his square, simple glasses up his nose as his friend sat down.  
"Hey." He took off his hood, revealing his scruffy, shoulder length, dirty blonde hair as the register started to be called out. He looked at his friend through bright blue eyes, smiling slightly.  
Vio looked weirdly like his best friend, somehow. He was one of quadruplets and had light blonde hair and blue eyes, which were always rimmed by the black edges of his glasses. He was the genius of their group, the top of almost every class.  
The green clad boy then looked around at the rest of his table, which consisted of the rest of his friends which were in his form.  
There was Red, the excitable, innocent and sometimes quite dim one, but always a loyal and brilliant friend; his best friend aside from Vio. He was also one of the quadruplets, so almost looked exactly the same as Vio, the most prominent difference being the size of their eyes. Next to him was sat Saria, the pretty and funny one of the gang, her dark brown, short bob with green highlights framing a rosy face, her eyes as green as the highlights.  
"Malon?" Mr. Deku called out.  
"Yes!" A girl with long red hair said happily.  
"Groose?"  
"Yes!" The boy with the pompadour said.  
"Vio?"  
"Yes, sir." Vio said, still not looking up from his book.  
"Red?"  
"Yep!" Red said bouncily.  
"And Link?"  
"Yes, sir."  
"Please take the hoodie off when you're in class, Link." The teacher grunted.  
Link nodded and took off his green hoodie, accidently hitting Vio in the face with his hand, "Oops." He winced as Vio recoiled a bit, "Sorry."  
"It's fine." His studious friend said hurriedly. He looked at Link for the first time and tutted, "Were you up all night AGAIN?"  
"How did you know?" Link bowed his head a bit to shade his eyes.  
"It's obvious!" Vio sighed, "Your eyes give it away."  
"Aaaw!" Saria exclaimed jokingly, "Have you been looking into his eyes?"  
"Oh, shut up." Link rolled his eyes, though laughing, "Anyway," He turned back to Vio, "It doesn't matter when I'm getting to sleep."  
"Of course it does! It can affect your education!"  
Link ran a hand through his scruffy blonde hair; this was just typical Vio, "Well maybe I look tired because of something else."  
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me, Link!" Vio slammed his book shut, grabbing the attention of most around him, seeing as that didn't happen often. He lowered his voice, "That dream AGAIN?"  
"Well, yeah. You don't believe me?"  
"Of course I do! It's just-" His friend looked around to check that no one was listening in then leant in closer, lowering his voice even further, "People'll think you're mad, mate! Honestly, something that… Supernatural? Most people will just look at you weirdly!"  
"Thanks." Link locked his fingers together on the table in front of him, looking down.  
"That's not what I think! You know that the first person to believe anything you say would be me!"  
Link hesitated, then looked back up at Vio, a smile creasing his lips slightly, "I guess."  
"Exactly!" Vio nodded, looking triumphant, "Anyway, what really matters is if you've got your maths homework."  
"Uhhh..." Link gritted his teeth together, "Oops."  
"Oh, Link." Vio rolled his eyes, opening his book up again.  
"There was MATHS homework?!" Red said, panicking, "Oh no!"  
"At least I'm not the only one…" Link muttered to himself as Vio started to explain the homework sheet hurriedly to them.  
"Honestly, guys!" Vio huffed, "This is your third day in year nine and you're already forgetting homeworks!"  
"I'm sorry. I'm just not the homework type!" Link sniggered.  
"Well, welcome to Hyrule Secondary, mate!"


	2. Chapter 2 - The Girl with the Giggle

Finally, after a horrid, droning lecture about school uniform and the lunch time chess club, the bell rang and the form burst eagerly out of the classroom.  
The hallway was no better. A sea of bustling students flooded the corridor, making what would ideally be a simple walk through the corridor a right pain. Literally.  
Red pushed ahead, clearing the way for the rest of the group.  
"What is it now?" Link called to Vio, who was following close behind his brother.  
"Maths!" He shouted back, gaining a torrent of groans from the others.  
"Great!" Saria huffed, shrinking past a burly year eleven, "What a brilliant way to get us engaged for the rest of this BRILLIANT day!"  
"Yeah." Link automatically caught the green girl's bag's shoulder strap as she was dragged back by another wave of students and pulled her along.  
Soon, they had reached the door along from their form room and dived into it, sighing in relief as they stopped to catch their breath.  
"I highly recommend that you sit down before I keep you four back at break; You are already late."  
The four of them looked up at their maths teacher, a tall woman with short, bright white, almost blue hair who always wore purple and blue.  
"Yes, Miss Fi." Vio said and they walked to their seats.  
The bad thing about maths was that they had a seating plan and Miss Fi was a dead boring teacher. The only good thing was that Link had Vio to sit next to and to copy work off of.  
So the lesson began,  
"As you can see there is a 56% chance of this door being open." The teacher pointed at a cheesy illustration of a door on the board, "Therefore, there is a 44% chance of it being shut."  
"Ugh." Link groaned, assuming the usual position and leaning his forehead on his hands, "We learnt this last lesson!" He muttered so that only Vio could hear.  
"Now." Miss Fi carried on, "Try this: Please work out the percentage of people who visit the theme park in one week and how many people stay in the hotel. Also display your workings and not only the percentage, but the fraction and decimal, too."  
"What?" Was the resounding reaction from much of the class as they looked at the new slide. A novel of numbers and symbols was up, making most students almost loose their jaws.  
About a quarter of the way through the lesson, Link had given up and stared out the window, twiddling his pen between his fingers and his eyelids drooping every now and then. Finally, they shut fully and he found himself in the main hall.  
It was quiet. Too quiet. The stage stood like a gaping mouth, the inside shadowed eerily. A man cackled lightly and Link turned to see a tall man with red hair, his eyes the same colour, and a long nose.  
He rose his hand and a light shone from behind. Upon turning back, Link saw a golden triangle with an upside down one hollowing out the middle. The light got too much and it started to blind him. He rose up his arms to shield himself from it-  
He woke with a gasp as a hand closed over his shoulder. Link looked to his left to see Vio, who was frowning at him.  
"Come on, the bell's just gone." His friend said, still with a furrowed brow.  
"Right." Link blinked multiple times and stood up, snatching up his bag and games kit and closing his exercise book.  
It was games next, which was a relief for him.  
Link had a knack for cricket. Apparently his hand-eye coordination was pretty good and he was good with a bat.  
They had a female teacher who was extremely tall, strong and scary. She always had markings on her face which her students could never work out if they were made of make-up or were tattoos. Her white hair was scraped back in two short pig-tails and she always stood up straight, looking down her nose with her hands on her hips. Mrs. Impa.  
"COME ON!" She bellowed to the boys as they ambled out of the changing rooms, "GET A BAT AND LET'S GO!"  
This normally sped things up a bit. Link, Vio and Red all ran for the bat bucket, grabbing their normal equipment. They each had a preferred bat. Vio and Red both had the same make, a sleek one with a purple handle on Vio's and a red for Red's.  
Link, however, preferred the old worn one, which was literally carved out of tarnished, hardened wood. He had used that cricket bat ever since his first cricket lesson and it had served him well.  
"RIGHT!" Mrs. Impa yelled as soon as they had got onto the astro-turf, the whole class falling silent, "TODAY I'D LIKE TO SEE SOME PRACTISING IN THREES! DO THE ROTATION GAME! REMEMBER IT? RIGHT, LET'S GO!"  
Link, Red and Vio all teamed up and started to bowl to each other and bat on turns.  
A few minutes in to this activity, the girls started to walk onto the field for athletics. Link gave them a fleeting look and readied his bat, but then he took a double take. It was her.  
A girl with long blonde hair which fell to her waist was chatting animatedly with her friend, a girl from another class called Ruto. She looked around for a fleeting, wonderful and terrible moment. She was beautiful, rosy cheeked and always smiling, not to mention intelligent. Yes,yes, very intelligent. But then, for the first time, their blue eyes met. Zelda.  
"Oi, dreamer boy!"  
Link yelled in shock as a cricket ball as hard as a rock hurtled into his forehead. He staggered sideways stupidly and fell over. He looked up, blushing uncontrollably as he saw Zelda giggling. He grinned awkwardly, laughing nervously to cover up his own embarrassment and scratching the back of his head with a hand.  
"Woa!" Vio ran over, laughing his head off, "Sorry, mate! I DID warn you!" He held out a hand and Link took it, getting pulled to his feet.  
"Don't worry about it." Link smiled. He had made Zelda laugh. That made him happy.  
That lunch time, Link walked out of the canteen balancing a pasta pot, a bottle of water and his two bags in his arms, using his chin to balance them. Only just making it to the table, he placed his lunch down and swung the bags under it, sitting down next to Vio and facing Green and Blue for the first time that day.  
"Hey, Link!" Green's face was red, as if he had been laughing hard, "Vio was just telling us about the cricket thing. Haha!"  
"Oh, that." Link said through a mouthful of pasta and swallowed it, chuckling and looking down at the pot.  
"Yeah, made a right fool of yourself in front of Zelda, sounds like!" Blue exclaimed, laughing.  
"I don't know. She was laughing." Link shrugged.  
"Ha! Look, she's the hottest babe here, mate! You think she'd fall for guys like us? Hmph." Blue shook his head, pointing his thumb over his shoulder, "She'd probably go with guys like them, knowing her." He was pointing to Groose and his cronies.  
"She doesn't seem like the kind of girl to be going out with thugs like them."  
"Trust me, mate."  
Link sighed, "Ah, we sound like a bunch of girls, gossiping about her! What about the athletics tournament, yesterday, Green, how'd it go?"  
"It went pretty well. I came fifth in the long distance."  
"Wow!" The table gasped in awe of their friend.


	3. Chapter 3 - Unexpected Tears

It was finally the end of the day. They all poured out of the geography classroom, moaning about how Mr. Gaebora had made the lesson the most boring it could have possibly been, making them all sit there in silence, copying from a text book for the full hour.  
Link lived in a small village to the south of Castleton, where the school was, called Kokiri. It was a pretty village, situated in the middle of a small forest. Most of the houses there were cosy, beamed, old cottages, making the tiny community feel welcoming.  
Link was the only one out of his friends to live here, whilst the others all lived in estates in Castleton.  
The light breeze ruffled Link's hood as he rode back home from school, the weather now brightening up a little from that morning.  
Birds chirruped happily as he pedalled into the forest along the narrow road, a satisfied smile on his face as he shouted in greeting to the old man mowing the lawn of the outermost house.  
He turned onto the drive of a tall, extremely old and beautiful cottage, shaded by a massive tree. This village seemed like a whole world away from the busy town of Castleton.  
Link dropped off his bike in the shed and ran round to the front door, letting himself in.  
"Mum!" He called as he closed the door behind him, "I'm home!" He walked past a mantelpiece sporting an array of frames, all holding pictures of the smiling family of three, most of them with the father in his military uniform.  
He walked through to the cloakroom and hung up his bag and coat, flicking down his hood and frowning as there was no answer, "Mum? Oh yeah!" He remembered, digging deep into his school bag and withdrawing a crumpled letter, "We got given a letter today about some festival thing in Clockton, I don't know about it though." Link carried on as he walked through to the small living room, skimming over the yellow letter, "Seems like it's more for little... kids..." He had looked up at the place where his Mum normally sat when he came home from school, watching the TV.  
She was there, alright. However, she was limp, her hand hanging over the sofa's arm and a deep red trickle dripping off her index finger.  
"Mum?" Link grinned, thinking at first that this must be a joke. She didn't stir and his smile faded, "Hey!" He walked briskly around to the other side of the sofa to look at her fully. He wished he hadn't.  
A deep stab wound was embedded in her chest, multiple on her stomach and her eyes were closed, as if she could just be asleep. Blood dribbled down her chin and stained her long brown hair which was strewn around her like a brunette halo.  
"Mum?" He said weakly. The letter dropped from his hands. He gasped, running to the phone and picking it up with shaking hands. He dialled into it, "Nine... Nine... Nine!" He stood there, his mind numb, not quite sure what he had just seen, still convincing himself that this was all a well staged joke, the phone held up to his ear. Finally, someone picked up the phone,  
"Hello there, this is the Castleton police station, how may I help you?"  
"Mum!" He said, his voice shaking as much as his grip, "Mum! She- She- She's been stabbed!" And as he said it, it started to sink in and his mouth seemed to dry up, "Mum's been stabbed." He repeated, "She's gone. PLEASE JUST COME!" He bellowed down the phone, "THE TREEHOUSE, DEKU DRIVE, KOKIRI!"  
"OK, kid, we're coming. Just take deep breaths and calm down. We'll be there soon." And he hung up.  
Link did as he said and took deep, long breaths, steadying himself then looking over his shoulder at his mother. He couldn't help it.  
He ran towards her, throwing himself to his knees and wrapping his arms around her limp body. It was still warm. His school clothes were soon stained red by his mother's blood but he didn't care. He wanted to cling on to her. Forever.  
Soon, police sirens could be heard coming ever closer and the sound of a door springing open followed.  
A hand slipped onto his shoulder and he looked up into a burly officer's face, "Come on, lad. Come outside for a moment. This is no place for you to be right now."  
Link let himself be taken whilst forensic detectives filed in.  
Once outside, he leant his back against the wall and slid down it, burying his face in his hands. It had all happened so quickly. He had never had a chance to say goodbye and yet the tears would not flow, they would not show themselves when he longed for their company. It was simply too much emotion to ball up into such a petty thing as tears.  
"Well," Said a young lady and Link looked up, "We have analysed the wounds and it is an easy conclusion. This is a very common pattern of the murderer who we believe calls himself... Ganondorf. He even goes as far as to call himself a lord. He is frankly completely mad and has been heard to mumble to himself about a thing called a "triforce". I am deeply sorry for your loss."  
Link looked down and said in a small voice, "It's not your fault."

The next day, students rushed to their forms as the bell went, just as they had the day before.  
Vio had assumed his normal position, bending over a massive book as if it was the be all and end all.  
As the second bell went, Vio looked round at the empty seat next to him and sighed, "Late again. Honestly, what is he up to?"  
"Probably left the house without his school bag again." Saria joked.  
The door creaked open and shut.  
Link walked in, his head down, hood covering his face.  
"Link, you are late again." Mr. Deku said, "I am sorry, but it has to be a detention."  
"Right." Link said quietly, his face still shaded. He sat down next to Vio and continued to look down at the table, not taking his hood off.  
"Link, please-"  
"Take my hoodie off. I know." Link took it off slowly. When the hood was drawn back, it was to show that his eyes were unfocussed and glossy.  
"Link?" Vio said cautiously, "What's the matter?"  
His friend remained silent, bowing his head even more than it already was.  
Vio could have sworn that a tear had just fallen onto the table, "Mate... Are you sure?" He had never seen Link cry before, so this was a massive shock.  
"I-" And NOW the tears came, in the middle of class, in front of everyone. Brilliant, he thought in bitter sarcasm. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he scrunched up his eyes, willing himself to stop.  
"What happened?" Vio said softly as the others stared at the crying boy, stunned.  
Link suddenly threw his arms around Vio's shoulders, hugging him, a boy seeking a true friend's comfort. A sob fell through his lips and tears splashed onto Vio's shoulders.  
"M-Mum. Sh-she..."  
Red gasped, "Vio! That story on the news this morning! The stabbing in Kokiri!"  
Link felt Vio almost jump out of his seat in complete and utter disbelief, "Link!" He gasped, "Was your mum the one who was..."  
Link nodded slowly, clinging onto his best friend and letting another sob rack his body.  
The table fell silent, the rest of the form not noticing a thing.


	4. Chapter 4 - Rumours

The news spread like a forest fire.  
Within the next two days, EVERYBODY knew about the stabbing in Kokiri.  
The quadruplets' parents had said (more like demanded) that Link was to live at theirs, at least until his father came back from the front-line. However, his mood had not improved in the slightest. He hadn't spoken once since the morning after his discovery and his eyes had not yet regained their usual glint.  
Students always gossiped and pointed as he passed in the corridors and always seemed a little scared of him. Either that, or they were convinced that he had become a mute.  
This carried on for another week. Link could see that it was hurting his friends to see him like this, but at that moment, he had lost all care and love.  
Finally, one lunch, their pained and pitying expressions all got too much.  
Link walked out of the canteen with his usual pot of pasta and bottle of water. He looked over at his table. Whispers hissed in his ears, pointing fingers seeming to tangle his vision. It seemed like the hall had turned into a forest of thickets, buzzing with nosey bees and wasps, the odd butterfly telling them to be quiet as he passed, his head down as to avoid the thorns. He took another glance at his friends then at an empty table. He took the latter, wanting more than anything to be alone.  
He took a seat, placing down his lunch and starting to pick at the pasta with a plastic fork.  
"Hey, scrawny!" Came a bark.  
Link had other things on his mind, so he chose to pay no attention to Groose as he neared the table with his cronies. He had just seen a very peculiar looking boy. He was lurking in a corner of the hall, a black hood concealing his facial features, arms crossed and alone. The strange thing about him was that he was staring at Link. Not in the way that most did by now, but in such a way that he looked somewhat intrigued.  
"OI! Are you listening?"  
Link peeled his gaze away from the strange boy to look at Groose, whose big, sloth-like eyes were focused on his prey.  
"So…" Groose smirked, "The reason that you're quiet is because you mum died, huh?" He said a bit too happily for Link's liking. In response, he just looked back down at his food and started to poke a piece of pasta around with his fork again.  
"I'll take that for a yes, then. You know, I was wondering who could have done it." The red pompadour bounced as he put a finger on his chin in mock thought, "People are saying that it was that serial killer, Ganondorf. I disagree. My bet is that one of the old mad men in that village of yours killed 'er."  
Link's grip tightened on his fork.  
"Or, even better," Groose grinned stupidly, "From what I've heard, she was pretty much mad herself. Maybe she decide to kill herself before she hurt her poor little baby boy instead!"  
Link's eyes flashed. He unzipped his bag and pulled out the old cricket bat he'd stolen in their last games lesson and grabbed the bully's collar, dragging him onto the table and holding the bat to the back of his neck.  
"Why you little-" Groose threw him off easily, then held him up by the front of his school shirt so that his feet dangled.  
"Now that's not a pretty look." The thug chuckled as Link scowled deeply at him. The hall had fallen silent.  
A fist made contact with his stomach and Link groaned in pain, scrunching up his eyes, but quickly recovering his glare. Another blow to his nose, and he found blood dripping off his top lip onto his chin, then onto the floor. Though he still kept the glare as the cowardly laughed.  
"Stop it!" Came a shriek and Link looked past Groose's thick head to see a girl with a long blonde pony-tail running towards them, hitching her bag further onto her shoulder, "Put him down, Groose!" Zelda said angrily.  
"Zelda!" He laughed, dropping Link so that his legs gave way and he ended up on all fours, spitting the blood from his nose out of his mouth, "Aren't you looking pretty today!" Groose walked towards her and she shrunk away a little.  
Link panted as he looked up, hatred in his eyes. He reached for his bat.  
"Why didn't you reply to my text last night, darling?"  
"You know why!"  
"HYAH!"  
Groose gasped as he spun around to see a flash of green. Link hit his arm with the bat, spluttering out, "L-leave her a-alone!" His voice was weak and timid from neglect of using it, but his eyes spoke of a different attitude.  
The bully staggered to one side, then rose a fist. Link blocked the blow with the bat and soon it had turned into a full-out fight. Link dodged around the opposition as it flailed his arms around, trying to land a punch, but Link was simply too fast for him. Until-  
"Oof!" One of the fists caught him in the ribs and he was sent flying into the opposite wall. He slipped down it, exhausted and winded. His eyes darted up to see a fuming Groose approaching, mashing his fists together. He rose one-  
"THAT'S MY BEST FRIEND, YOU BRUTE!"  
Groose yelled in shock as two arms were flung around his neck and he was forced to the floor, a heavy, hard back book swinging around and hitting him on the head.  
He got back up, seething, then gestured to his stunned friends to retreat.  
"AND DON'T YOU EVEN THINK OF COMING ANYWHERE NEAR HIM AGAIN!" Their vanquisher bellowed after them as the door swung shut.  
A clap. Then another. It escalated into a torrent of applause. It was what most had been waiting for.

Vio stood with his feet a little apart, a warning glare still written across his face and the book hanging at his side. That glare was soon gone, however. He started to laugh in disbelief.  
"I did it." He gasped, "I DID IT!" He jumped into the air punching up a fist in victory, "Take that, you blubbering idiot! HA HAA!"  
He was engulfed by his friends, all congratulating him in his triumph.  
"Wait! Link!" He pushed his way out of the crowd, over to where Link was laid against the wall, but stopped in his tracks, feeling his brother doing the same behind him.  
Zelda was knelt in front of him.

"Thank you, Link." Zelda spoke to him softly.  
Link looked at her with a little smile on his face, the first smile he had cracked for a good week or two, "Nah, it's Vio who you should really be thanking. He got rid of 'em." His voice was thick and it felt like his nose was broken, but at the moment, he didn't really give a damn; Zelda was talking to him! Zelda!  
"But no one else was going to stop him from harassing me. You did." She smiled, taking a packet of tissues out of her blazer pocket and dabbing his nose with one, "That meant a lot."  
"It was nothing." He laughed nervously, "To be honest, I really wanted to kick him in the balls myself. Couldn't let you take the chance."  
They laughed. Zelda then leant in and kissed him on the cheek, "Thank you, hero." And she left him there to turn radish red on his own.


End file.
